Chapter 411: Hello, Pillow. Meet, Sleep

Having made his decision, Baiyi saw no other reason to stay at the party, so he returned to the Warrior Walker, who had long since stolen the show with her transformations. The pair left immediately after.

With this mission pending, the other formal obligations Baiyi had — including his position as a panelist to review theses — were instantly set aside. The secretary proved himself to be a capable individual, drafting an official letter from the Empire’s military to the Sorcerer’s Association. The letter would reach its intended recipient first thing in the morning.

Baiyi could not help but grin because of this. This young secretary displayed a high level of quality that only Da Xue’s students could achieve. It was, however, still a surprise that the young man had only graduated from an Advanced Class. [1]

On the journey back, Baiyi tried to start a conversation with the Warrior Walker; he asked her about the event and how she felt about being its center of attention. The Warrior Walker’s indifferent expression did not change, and in a steely tone, she replied, “I was used to attention even before arriving at the Void. It’s nothing worth talking about.”

In a bid to prevent the conservation from suffering sudden death, Baiyi changed the topic to his new mission. “Uhm… Do you want to join me?”

Surprisingly, the Warrior Walker, who was quite clingy, shook her head sideways. “This is not what I’m good at. When it comes to gathering intel, you have that Assassin Walker by your side.”

‘Heh heh! Just look at my considerate and understanding bae!’ Baiyi chuckled to himself.

“Interacting with an idiot like you for too long is mentally taxing,” the Warrior Walker mumbled under her breath as she slowly shook her head.

Baiyi’s chuckles were instantly replaced by coughs of embarrassment.

They continued to chat until they arrived at the Sorcerer’ Association. It was already very late at night, so there was no activity to be seen in or around the building. This was why the presence of a young man sitting on the stairs leading to the entrance of the building was very surprising.

When Baiyi saw him, he guessed that the young man may be waiting for his beautiful maiden. To Baiyi, that guess was already considered good because the young lad had a look of infatuation on his face, which was only seen on the faces of side-guys. It would be better if the young man did not spot his maiden descending from a luxurious carriage belonging to a fat nobleman.

What Baiyi did not know, though, was that the young man had been waiting for him. This young man had a guard uniform on, and the moment he spotted Baiyi, he hurried forward and kowtowed before the Fifth Walker. The young guard wrapped his arms around Baiyi’s ankles and wailed, “Please, great Master Hope… Please, save our village!”

This was the guard that had blocked his path earlier that night.

Feeling embarrassed, Baiyi pulled the young guard to his feet and used hypnosis to calm him down. A few moments later, when the young guard had calmed down, Baiyi said, “What’s the matter? Tell me.”

The young man did not waste any time in explaining. He was from a rural village called Dorro. It was so small, even a cartographer would fail to point it out on a map. Dorro was situated on the far east of the Empire, close to the Wasteland. Although its villagers were poor, they lived in peace.

That was until the undead attacked. It happened a few months ago, in the middle of the night. Forty people were slain by the invading undead, leaving the young guard as the sole survivor of the attack.

Had the incident ended there and then, with the death of the villagers, the young guard may not have sought Baiyi out. After escaping the village, the young guard foraged for sustenance the best he could, and a few days later, when he was sure that the undead had gone, he returned to the village.

To his horror, he realized that the slain villagers had begun to walk the land as undead creatures, commonly known as zombies. [2]

Heartbroken, the young guard decided to report the incident to the church, but before he could, he discovered something startling: these zombies had retained some of the intelligence they had when they were alive. They did not attack him, and a few of them even seemed to recognize him!

The young guard decided not to report matters to the Church, scared that it may eradicate the undead villagers, who, to him, were not lost causes. After thinking long and hard, he led the villagers into the great Wasteland, where they went into hiding. After that, he took all his savings and left for the Imperial City, determined to find his people a cure.

As the Imperial City was the capital of the Empire, the young guard believed that experts powerful enough to cure his people would reside there. However, he was also scared to tell anyone what had happened to his village, for fear that they would report it to the Church. When he arrived at the capital, he asked the locals to tell him the strongest person they knew. He wanted to know if there was such an individual, and if there was, where he, or she, lived.

When he first arrived some years ago, the locals advised him to visit the Doors of Conundrum, but recently, with Da Xue on the rise, a lot of people advised him to visit Da Xue instead. This was the reason why the young guard had been so determined to enroll in Da Xue. He hoped to learn of a cure by studying there.

As Da Xue’s entrance exam was some time away, the young guard settled in a town and got a job as a security guard. It was only by luck that he had crossed paths with Master Hope ⁠— the same man the locals had been directing him to ⁠— tonight.

After talking to everyone he could at the party, he learned that Master Hope would appear here; hence, without delay, he rushed to the Sorcerers’ Association building and waited. He had not bothered to change out of his guard uniform.

That was his story, and he told it under hypnosis; hence, Baiyi did not doubt him. He also felt sorry for the young guard. It was a stroke of fortune for him to meet up with Baiyi. He knew that the young guard would not have made it past Da Xue’s entrance examination, neither would he have been able to afford its fees.

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It was quite the coincidence that this young guard’s issue seemed tied with the strange undead, which the Empire had tasked Baiyi to investigate! Only a few minutes ago, Baiyi had been pondering on where exactly to start his investigation, and now, fate had prepared the perfect starting point for him. Undertaking the mission would also enable help the pitiful guard; two birds, one stone!

“I think I get the gist, young man. Let’s meet again at Arfin City, by ten in the morning. Before that, go get some rest, alright?” Baiyi said.

The young lad was still under hypnosis, so he nodded calmly and left without a word.

After the lad had left, Baiyi turned his attention to the Lich Walker in the Void. “So, what do you think, Lich?”

“Mine lord, I believeth thou hath stumbled upon something wicked!”

“What the—? Since when did you pick this up?” Baiyi asked, shocked.

“I have been feeling really good lately; thank you. There is no scholar who will not be excited to stumble upon a great unknown, where new specimen can be obtained and new ground made. You can put your trip to Duat on hold now,” the Lich Walker replied. “Heehee… Turning into an undead right after being killed? This is just interesting…”

On their way back, Baiyi continued to chat with the Lich Walker, completely ignoring the stunning Warrior Walker, and soon, the pair reached Da Xue.

Baiyi was feeling pretty good himself; he already had a lead on his mission. In that elated state of mind, Baiyi placed his arms atop the Warrior Walker’s shoulder, and the Warrior Walker, who was upset at his negligence, instantly shoved the hand away.

The Warrior Walker could not be reasoned with when she was upset, so Baiyi decided to go see his students. He had not seen them in a while because he had been busy.

Baiyi knew from Tisdale that Attie had returned home and the girls were having a gathering, so he went to Attie’s chalet straight away. After kicking the Jawflower aside, he knocked on the door and waited. In moments, the door was opened by Attie, who had covered herself with a blanket.

Naturally, she had nothing on underneath the blanket.

“Master!” Attie exclaimed in elation. She jumped at him and began to rub herself against him, just as she often did in the past. “I knew you would come to see me when you learned that I had returned home.”

‘Honestly, you’re just something on the way,’ Baiyi thought; it was something he knew not to say out loud. He gave Attie a hug and praised her for her hard work — which he knew would make her, or any other lady, happy. Attie grinned so broadly, and in her happiness, she almost let go off the blanket around her. [3]

Baiyi hurriedly ruffled her hair, in a bid to stop her from baring it all. “Oh, you look so tired from all that work, Attie. Please, go and take a break. I’ll go check on the others now…”

With that, he fled into the house. He only stopped running when he spotted Nota.

As one of his most docile and mature students, Nota was able to enjoy a short chat with Baiyi. Their discussion entailed nothing that could be considered having crossed the boundary between mentor and student, and it ended very soon with a courteous “See you later.”

Baiyi walked to a room and spotted Mia, who was seated at the bedside table, with her head in her arms, groaning about the headache her thesis had given her. However, when Mia saw Baiyi, her face lit up, and she jumped into his embrace, after which she began rubbing her cheek against his chest armor. After that, she pulled him into the room.

When Baiyi’s gaze landed on her unfinished thesis, he exclaimed, “I can’t believe you haven’t submitted your work! The review is tomorrow!”

“Oww, but it’s just! So! Haaaard…” Mia groaned like a little girl. Swinging her legs from side to side, she directed her best puppy dog eyes at Baiyi and asked sweetly, “Mr. Hope, please help. Pwease?”

“No. Do your own work,” Baiyi answered bluntly. When he saw Mia become downcast, he sighed and let her in on a secret. “Look, I’m not going to be reviewing tomorrow, alright?”

Upon learning that Baiyi, a man with very high standards, would not be reviewing their theses tomorrow, Mia was so overjoyed, she could not help cheering. Her ponytails swung in midair as she jumped on her bed in exhilaration. Her elation was something every other sorcerer also due to submit their thesis the next day would share, should they learn what Mia had.

“Oh, please. What if the panelist that replaces me is harsher than I am?” Baiyi said, amused at her antics.

“Nope, no way, nuh-uh!” Mia chuckled. “Mr. Hope is the strictest person ever!”

“Is that so? Very well, then. I suppose this means you can relax a little. Come on, off you go; get some rest.”

Baiyi walked to the bed, and Mia obediently turned her back to him, allowing Mr. Hope to let her hair down. With a slight touch, the knot in Mia’s raven-black hair came undone, causing it to cascade down her back. flowing down her back.

Ever since Da Xue’s reputation began to soar, this pair of student and teacher have had very little time to interact with each other. Moments like this had not happened in a long, long time. [4]